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ARUGULA GUY

A prominent New York Times reader - “I’ve found enormous sustenance from Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd” - stands up for Barack Obama:

Rocker Bruce Springsteen, renowned for his gritty parables of American working class life, today defended Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama, as he fights charges of elitism.

Mr Springsteen earned $55 million in 2006.

UPDATE. Hillary hilarity.

UPDATE II. AIIIEEE!!!

Posted by Tim B. on 04/16/2008 at 11:29 PM
  1. Bruce changing lyrics for Rudd’s “New Labor ” anthem to be performed at gabfest.

    Now “Working Class Families”

    Posted by watty on 2008 04 16 at 11:41 PM • permalink

  2. Well, at least, Springsteen showed up for the Big O’s Black & White Night ...

    Posted by egg_ on 2008 04 16 at 11:47 PM • permalink

  3. Hamas endorses Obama.

    Posted by C.L. on 2008 04 16 at 11:55 PM • permalink

  4. #3—Ouch.  That might leave a mark, too.

    Posted by Celaeno on 2008 04 17 at 12:00 AM • permalink

  5. Re #3, C.L., Obama is probably hoping that Hamas won’t explode in his face…..  ;-P

    Of course, after the Democrat debate in Pennsylvania, he might be hoping it will.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2008 04 17 at 12:07 AM • permalink

  6. S-S-S-Suffering succotash! Springsteen’s s-s-s-sustenance sucks.

    Posted by andycanuck on 2008 04 17 at 12:18 AM • permalink

  7. #4 Possible spin:

    “Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for hummus? I mean, they’re charging a lot of money for this stuff.”

    Posted by C.L. on 2008 04 17 at 12:21 AM • permalink

  8. Bruce Springsteen?  He’s still alive?

    Posted by Diggs on 2008 04 17 at 12:29 AM • permalink

  9. Bruce Springsteen earned $55 million last year.

    I got the Six hundred dollar Carer’s Bonus because I look after my mad old mum.

    I can join the Elitist Club!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!

    Posted by Pogria on 2008 04 17 at 12:39 AM • permalink

  10. I’m waiting for the crucial Ben Affleck endorsement.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2008 04 17 at 12:48 AM • permalink

  11. “I’ve found enormous sustenance from Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd”

    I’ll bet he found even more “enormous sustenance” in $55 million.  Given a choice of enormously sustaining things I’ll take $55 million over Krugman and Dowd any day.

    Posted by walterplinge on 2008 04 17 at 12:49 AM • permalink

  12. What I’m wondering about is how a man who lived in a one bedroom condo with his family until 13 years ago is now a multi-millionaire.

    Posted by rabidfox on 2008 04 17 at 12:57 AM • permalink

  13. #12 - America is the land of oportunity. Even for bitter and twisted Harvard types.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2008 04 17 at 01:03 AM • permalink

  14. Springsteen is a tightwad. He made $55 Million in 2006 and
    still he won’t buy himself a new pair of jeans.

    Posted by scooper on 2008 04 17 at 01:06 AM • permalink

  15. Mr Springsteen earned $55 million in 2006.

    One advantage of being elitistWe’ve got the money.

    Posted by AlexanderH on 2008 04 17 at 01:09 AM • permalink

  16. I wondered what this famously expensive and elitist ‘argula’ is.

    Bloody ‘eck - it’s just rocket. What you get in a $4 salad mix from Woolworth. And not especially tasty either; at least, not compared with iceberg lettuce.

    Posted by walterplinge on 2008 04 17 at 01:24 AM • permalink

  17. #15 Now you’re arguing that the Right is elite Al? Wow. I guess we’re also all the artistic types who are constantly saying people shouldn’t be allowed to express their opinion because they don’t match the election results, right?

    Posted by Ash_ on 2008 04 17 at 01:43 AM • permalink

  18. OT but this made me laugh - on Tim Dunlop’s blog today:

    “Sharia law, of course, frowns on homosexuality…”

    Frowns?!

    Since Iran’s Islamic revolution in 1979, human rights groups estimate that between 3,000 and 4,000 people have been executed under Sharia law for the crime of homosexuality.

    Posted by Pig Head Sucker on 2008 04 17 at 01:46 AM • permalink

  19. earned? earned?  Got paid maybe, but earned? Nobody EARNS $55 mil!!

    Posted by Rod C on 2008 04 17 at 01:53 AM • permalink

  20. Every time some magazine does a feature on Springsteen, they send a photographer to do Bruce standing up against a grimy brick wall or a rusty tin fence, or whatever.  You could just as easily photograph Martha Stewart like that, and it would mean as much.

    Posted by cuckoo on 2008 04 17 at 02:04 AM • permalink

  21. #18, lol. Yes. be careful or Dunlop may upgrade from frowing to something sterner like ‘glares at’ or even ‘scolds’

    Posted by Nic on 2008 04 17 at 02:13 AM • permalink

  22. #10 IT Affleck? How about (in Team America Voice):

    MATT DA-MON…...

    Posted by Chunder on 2008 04 17 at 02:28 AM • permalink

  23. #15 AlexanderH,
    you should try engaging in a conversation here instead of hit & run posting. Sure, some people here will bark loudly but few bite.

    I say this because sometimes I’m not sure if you are trying hard to troll or if it’s just that you have poor reading comprehension and aren’t very witty.

    Or are you acting out in a bid to get someone’s attention? As I recall you long for infidel tiger to be your daddy.

    Posted by Col. Milquetoast on 2008 04 17 at 02:41 AM • permalink

  24. Yeah, but he did it for the COMMON MAN.

    Posted by Jim Treacher on 2008 04 17 at 02:45 AM • permalink

  25. “the ballard of obama”

    oh it’s good to be tight
    with the working class man,
    and live as far from them
    as I can.

    I await my royalties; $55M will be fine, thanks.

    Posted by anonymous guest on 2008 04 17 at 02:51 AM • permalink

  26. Regarding Update II - I’m sending Tim the bill for my laser neurocautery.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2008 04 17 at 02:51 AM • permalink

  27. #23 Col, I wouldn’t encourage him too much. It’ll only end in tears.
    It always does.

    Posted by daddy dave on 2008 04 17 at 06:48 AM • permalink

  28. Just dropping in to share this quote from Carlos D, bass player of Interpol.
    Paul(Banks, the band’s lead singer) likes political lyrics. But I don’t like them at all. If I see a rock star singing political lyrics, I think about Elvis. All he was trying to do was move my ass.

    Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2008 04 17 at 07:00 AM • permalink

  29. Swinish, I agree with that.
    Music is and should be visceral.

    Using an emotive medium like music to sneak political slogans into people’s minds is actually kind of sinister. You’d want to be bloody sure that the slogans and propaganda you were pushing in your songs were 100 percent correct.

    Posted by daddy dave on 2008 04 17 at 07:11 AM • permalink

  30. Like Springsteen, Lyle Finds
    Enormous Sustenance from
    Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd:

    Krug-gnome has projected
    For six straight robust years
    Chaos and depression,
    Which on the Left, drew cheers.

    He was wrong, unless he
    Meant Dowd’s pathetic fears:
    Dateless every date-night,
    Her well-worn Trail of Tears.

    Posted by lyle on 2008 04 17 at 07:18 AM • permalink

  31. #16
    salad plant sounds better when called eruca. Added value for elitists.

    Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 04 17 at 07:20 AM • permalink

  32. Aieee! Krudd with Gillard’s hair!
    Or worse, vice versa.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2008 04 17 at 08:18 AM • permalink

  33. #32 Baldy with Gillard’s hair?

    Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 04 17 at 08:22 AM • permalink

  34. I’m just glad Acidman’s daughter has kept his blog online after his death. There is a lot of bitterness and clinging in his archives.

    Posted by Some0Seppo on 2008 04 17 at 08:28 AM • permalink

  35. Ode to Bruce: If I Had a Cluebat

    His servants will not tell him
    He’s such a freakin’ load
    Lounging by the swimming pool
    Thinking he’s Tom Joad.

    Posted by lyle on 2008 04 17 at 08:49 AM • permalink

  36. #34 I miss Rob Smith. That man could turn a phrase:

    “Kinda like CBS did, eh, Bruce? You don’t have a fucking clue.”

    Posted by ErnieG on 2008 04 17 at 08:51 AM • permalink

  37. Bruce has never held a working class job. He has been a musician and artist since high school. For the most part he writes about things he has not experienced.

    Posted by Rotorhead on 2008 04 17 at 09:39 AM • permalink

  38. Bravo, Lyle! The Springsteen fantasy of being Tom Joad is particularly inspired.

    Posted by paco on 2008 04 17 at 09:48 AM • permalink

  39. I posted my opinion of Springsteen’s endorsement at Tizona’s.  I think he just wants somebody to notice him again.  It’s a kind of mid-life crisis, only with music instead of sporty cars.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2008 04 17 at 09:49 AM • permalink

  40. “...Arugula? Look pal, if I wanted to eat lawn trimmings I’d go cut the lawn, y’know? Now go and get me a REAL salad. Thanks.”

    Posted by mojo on 2008 04 17 at 10:29 AM • permalink

  41. Its a good thing Bruce keeps it below 3 syllables in his song-writing.  Those 4 sylllabub words can be dangerous -and hard to use correctly.

    Posted by Son of a Pig and a Monkey on 2008 04 17 at 10:31 AM • permalink

  42. A musician’s endorsement.

    Springsteen probably thought ‘arugula’ was a lyric from ‘Inna Gadda Davida…”

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2008 04 17 at 11:08 AM • permalink

  43. I was just thinking about the irony of a Bruce Springsteen thread with an “ARUGULA” header. But read some of his lyrics:

    Blinded by the light
    Madman drummers bummers, Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
    In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
    With a boulder on my shoulder, feelin’ kinda older,
    I tripped the merry-go-round
    With this very unpleasin’, sneezin’ and wheezin,
    the calliope crashed to the ground


    How appropriate. Word salad.

    Posted by ErnieG on 2008 04 17 at 11:45 AM • permalink

  44. I often think I must be just about the only person on the planet that cringes whenever I see or hear the Bossman wankery of the Bruce. 

    From top to bottom he’s always struck me as manufactured goods rather than the real deal.

    Posted by Srekwah on 2008 04 17 at 12:12 PM • permalink

  45. God, I miss Acidman.

    Posted by Polly on 2008 04 17 at 12:18 PM • permalink

  46. Best thing about Loose Stringbeans these days is hearing a New Jersey born and raised Easterner sing in a fake Midwest accent. “Ah’m uh gonna git up ha-early inna morn’g anda warsh muh ha-yunds ca-lean….”  Breaks me up every time I ha-ear, uh, hear it. What’s next, a plaintive ballad about threshin’ that thar wheat with a scythe in one hay-und and uh slice of Noo Yawk pizza in tuh otha’?

    Posted by Rob C. on 2008 04 17 at 12:49 PM • permalink

  47. Wow, what influence! I’m at the edge of my seat wondering who’ll get the all-important Pablo Cruise endorsement!

    Posted by Attmay on 2008 04 17 at 01:06 PM • permalink

  48. Srekwah: no, you’re not the only one. I’ve always thought he was a phony. All the Springsteen fanatics I’ve known were druggies too.

    Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2008 04 17 at 02:30 PM • permalink

  49. Gut Rumbles will be remembered with fondness forever.  I might even paint my toenails red tonight in memory of the Acidman.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2008 04 17 at 02:44 PM • permalink

  50. He gets sustenance from the NYT? Used to be he got it by paying his help sub-minimum wages, docking them for minor infractions and a list of other abuses. All while he was raking in millions of dollars.

    I know this for two reasons: first I knew him way back before he got famous and he was a shifty manipulator even then. Second, his serfs sued him for back pay and other damages and the whole ugly story was front page news for days.

    There’s a lot of gossip about him around here these days and none of it’s flattering. To think this guy is a political solon says plenty about the people who think he is.

    Oh. By the way, Boss, great job on the Gore campaign. You really made a difference.

    Posted by Gary from Jersey on 2008 04 17 at 02:54 PM • permalink

  51. Did an even better job on Kerry’s jaunt, too, if I can remember such useless information.

    Posted by Gary from Jersey on 2008 04 17 at 03:37 PM • permalink

  52. I’ll always be grateful for Springsteen giving us “Trapped,” if only for the joy of watching Josef Sabovcik skate to it.

    Posted by Achillea on 2008 04 17 at 03:54 PM • permalink

  53. RE: Update II

    Does that pic remind anybody else of Edward James Olmos?

    Posted by Achillea on 2008 04 17 at 03:56 PM • permalink

  54. MS Springstud. (via Daring Fireball)

    Cheers

    Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2008 04 17 at 05:23 PM • permalink

  55. I am now lifting a glass to the fond memory of Acidman.

    A lot of us miss you, Rob.

    Posted by ErnieG on 2008 04 17 at 06:23 PM • permalink

  56. UPDATE II: Truly scarey.

    Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 04 17 at 06:50 PM • permalink

  57. Always got the impression that Springsteen grew up is some grimy industrial town with blast furnaces going around the clock. Amazing what illusions PR creates.

    A quick Google search shows a middle-class boy with middle-class parents (bus driver and legal secretary) in a middle class town (Freehold) just a few miles from middle-class seaside resorts. It might have been New Jersey but it’s not the blue-collar industrial New Jersey he would have you believe. Springsteen looks to have been a professional musician all his working life.

    Posted by Contrail on 2008 04 17 at 06:58 PM • permalink

  58. #57 Big parallels with one Michael Moore who lied about growing up in a sooty industrial town, to create an effect.

    Posted by mehaul on 2008 04 17 at 07:18 PM • permalink

  59. “I’ve found enormous sustenance from Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd”

    Actually, if you shred their columns very fine and mix with ground beef, it makes for a great meatloaf.

    Posted by paco on 2008 04 17 at 09:42 PM • permalink

  60. #10: Ahhh… the crucial Affleck endorsement. I’m sure Obama is on pins and needles waiting for that sage pronouncement that he needs to “enervate his base.”

    And the Boss: Batting a perfect .000 in endorsements since ‘00.

    Posted by Tommy Shanks on 2008 04 17 at 10:41 PM • permalink

  61. Arugula Guy is that famous song by Don McLean, right?

    Posted by PW on 2008 04 18 at 12:39 AM • permalink

  62. #59 - now THAT’s sustenance, Paco! Don’t forget the Worcestershire or it’ll be bland…

    Posted by KC on 2008 04 18 at 06:33 PM • permalink

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